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DB Cooper is the name the media gave to the unknown man who boarded a Boeing 727 on November 24, 1971, extorted $200,000 then jump from the plane in mid flight. The event occurred around 2:00pm near Portland, Oregon. The flight took off from Portland International Airport. A man that identified himself as Dan Cooper purchased a one-way ticket to Seattle Washington on flight 305 of Northwest Orient Airlines. He was very calm, having a cigarette and drink while on the flight. The description flight crew and passengers give is of a caucasian man in his mid-forties about 6 feet tall. He wore a black suit and neatly pressed white shirt with a light black rain coat and loafers.

Cooper passed a note to a flight attendant who initially mistook it for his phone number. Cooper prompted her to read the note, which read that he had a bomb and she was to accompany him to his seat. She did as the note instructed. He explained his plan to her and she conveyed that to the pilots. They then landed the plane without telling the rest of the passengers the real reason. They got more gas, Cooper got his $200,000 and they took off again. They flew low and slow. Cooper told everyone to go up front in the plane and close the door. When the plane next landed Cooper was nowhere to be found. The case remains the only unsolved air piracy in American aviation history. No conclusive evidence has ever surfaced regarding Cooper’s true identity or whereabouts.

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Historyonair.com is the online home of the History Podcast. You can find history related articles, video, and audio files here. You can contact the author of this blog and its content at historypodcast@gmail.com.